From Scratch
by xroselessthornsx
Summary: Something is killing off the clans, leaving very few warriors remaining. Rainsplash and her companions journey on to find what on earth is taking their families, and how to stop it. THE FOLLOWING IS A COWRITE. I DO NOT OWN THE POV OF STORMSCORCH. This co-write also includes Conspiracy192 so pls go check him out c:
1. Rainsplash's Beginning

Rainsplash

"I have told you time and time again, not to spy on Windclan. You have gone too far, Rainsplash." Leopardstar looked down on me patronizingly.

"At least I actually did something!" I spat desperately. "Your kid Halftail didn't even know of the incident until I told her. She couldn't sniff out a dead kit if she had the nose of a wolf!" I screamed. Leopardstar took a step forward. I copied her move growling. Halftail stepped forward to defend for her mother.

"How dare you speak to your deputy in such an incongruous manner!" Leopardstar boomed. Halftail glanced at her mother incredulously.

"I'd rather get killed by a _badger_ before considering-" a loud boom echoed throughout camp.

"Because of your incompetence of respect, as well as insulting the clan leader, you will be greatly punished," Leopardstar yowled. She turned to face her daughter. I thought I had almost seen a smile. Maybe I _had_ gone a bit too far.

"Bring him in, please," Leopardstar said sweetly.

 _No._

I prayed to Starclan it wasn't Stonekit. Tannish fur poked out from behind Halftail's body, and I heard a familiar voice.

And so it was.

At the sight of me, he starting yowling and hissing, trying to kick away from Halftail and run towards me. I leapt forward, only to be pinned down by Leopardstar's mate, Coalfoot.

"You're really going to stoop that low, Leopardstar? Killing a kit?" I snarled.

She scoffed, "Of course not, you ignorant fool," she paused, as if changing her original plan. "I intend to kill you in front of him,"

I stared at her incredulously. Images of punishments from Starclan for killing an innocent kit began to infiltrate my mind.

"And then I will kill him," she said frankly. She smiled a sweet, poisonous smile. Stonekit was still a squealing mess. I flinched, a small flicker of the ear, to silent him. He stopped, but soon began to cry.

"You think this will pass easily to Starclan? This will not go unpunished, killing Stonekit this way," I said desperately, trying to stall. "Death, wolves, two-legs, monsters-"

"Enough," Leopardstar yowled, jumping to her feet. "If you are to fill our minds with such horrifying thoughts, then you can bet that Stonekit's death will be slow, and harrowing. Goodbye to you, Rainsplash. I promise, you will not be missed," at that last word, three cats leaped on top of Stonekit, who was still screaming, and wailing like the noisy monsters by the grey road.

"You liar!" I screamed through tears. Stonekit was already dead. His blood was prominently spread across the middle of camp. I leapt forward, away from Coalfoot. I had freed myself, at a cost. His claws left deep scratches all down my back. I sprinted out of camp, running through the fox dung by the elders den to cover my scent. I headed for the pine forest. My shoulder began to ache, again. I shook my head furiously, trying to clear the tears from my eyes to better my vision. I could hear the cats behind me. They didn't seem in proximity, I leaped into a tree three times taller than High Rock at camp. Staggering up the tree, I heard cats' footsteps growing louder, like the entire clan had come to kill me. I wrapped my tail tightly around the branch I had perched on, watching as Halftail, Coalfoot, and three apprentices appeared just under the tree. Coalfoot looked right at me; I held my breath, wondering if he had actually seen me.

"Think she climbed up the tree?" Coalfoot said inquisitively.

Halftail snorted, "She could barely run, there's no way she climbed the tree with her sickly shoulder holding her back. She probably went West. Let's go back to camp, and just watch for her," Halftail cut off abruptly, prideful for her "observation" on my misconstrued location. The five walked East again, towards camp. I wept for what felt like hours over Stonekit, the image of his death playing in my mind over and over and over…

I ate what celandine and poppyseeds I could find before running reconnaissance for higher ground. The smell of pine trees and pollen infiltrated my nose, making me sneeze. It blinded my sense of smell. I opened my mouth to breathe as a small reprieve from the amount of pollen and scents encompassing me. My trot broke into a full on dash as I lept into the closest tree, scratching my way up, desperate to breathe fresh air. I reached the top of the tree and shook my fur out. More pollen. I hackled and looked for a way out of the pine forest. In the direction of the setting sun laid a two-legs village. In the opposite direction, an endless assemblage of pine trees. Still spitting up pollen, I looked for the short, round topped oak tree that was just outside camp. Slowly climbing back down the tree, I winced as my shoulder omitted a sharp pain that only my celandine could heal. I decided to go back to camp and rid of my emptiness. I would _let_ them kill me. Everyone I love is dead. I have nothing to live for. My shoulder detains me from fighting. Heading in the direction of the oak tree, I began to jog towards it, trying to control my pain tolerance. Night came quickly, making navigation slightly harder. Looking up constantly in search for the Moon, I continued to follow it until I exited pollen infested forest. I could begin to _smell_ the oak leaves' scent as my proximity to camp increased. The wide, tangled base of the oak tree came in sight just as my shoulder began to give out. I slowed down to a slow pace, my limp becoming more and more obscured. Too tired tolook for any clan cats, I easily found some poppyseeds and celandine for my shoulder. The celandine was inefficient in healing, and my shoulder soon gave out. I collapsed to the ground, unconscious from sleep loss and pain. I was too weak to fight it. It was the best sleep I'd had in a whole moon.

I woke up the next morning and began cleaning myself. Getting up, images of Leopardstar commanding her cats to kill me popped into my head. I _wanted_ to die. I paced forward, stepping in something sticky. grunting in disgust, I expected to see fox dung as I lifted my paw.

They were cobwebs, and marigold. There was even a small pile of pain reprievement near where I had fallen asleep. Leopardstar did all this? After killing my child, and trying to kill _me_? Something was wrong. Never has Leopardstar shown this type of kindness to anyone. After eating more herbs and trying to rehabilitate, my instincts kicked in and I walked away from the peaceful oak tree. I stopped dead in my tracks at the entrance to camp. The common chatter of my clan was missing, and my stomach began to churn.

I smelled blood.

I was too shocked to crouch down, to look for enemies, or wolves. I walked forward slowly, almost tripping over something small, and furry, and…

wet.

I looked down slowly, too scared to look around the camp. A dead kit lay at my feet. It wasn't Stonekit, nor the missing kit found dead before Leopardstar banished me. It looked like one of the newborn kits. I backed up and yelped, horrified by the sight. Daring myself, I looked up from the kit. I almost threw up the herbs I had just eaten. I don't understand how I hadn't smelled the strong scent of blood when I had first arrived at the oak tree.

Leopardstar was lying just outside her den, and dispersed around her, were my former classmates.

All dead.


	2. Stormscorch's Dawning

Stormscorch

I padded through the thick grove of trees, with no clear goal in mind. I had cuts all over my body from other rogues who seemed to like eating whatever meat I caught. Sighing, I sat down next to a tree as my stomach growled for the tenth time that hour.

I might as well try to rest, since I don't have anything to do but wait for death…

"Hey Stormscorch! You have to come hunt with us!" My head whipped around as I saw two of my clanmates calling to me. Begrudgingly, I stood up and headed towards them.

We walked for what seemed like hours without catching a single wiff of prey. "This place was rich with prey just the other day…" The elder warrior next to me stated, tasting the air.

I was about to make a remark, when the apprentice to my right lifted his head suddenly, ears perked up. "I think I hear wolves…" I stopped, listening intently for any sounds. Sure enough, there was a distant howling, barking, and pawsteps drumming across the ground.

"How many of them are there?!" My eyes widened in shock, and both me and the apprentice looked at the other warrior for guidance.

His eyes darkened. "That must be their entire pack…" He turned towards us. "Featherpaw, go warn the clan, I'll distract them." As he was about to tell me what I should do, we heard another howl, this time much nearer to us.

Featherpaw's eyes widened in fear, looking in the direction of the sound.

The warrior gulped, shaking his head. "Scratch that. You two, hide in those bushes over there, try to hide your scent with something. I'll lure them away."

We nodded, running off into the bushes, conveniently finding a puddle of mud. It didn't take long before we were both covered in the stuff, and we gazed through the bushes, almost shaking in fear. We looked at our clanmate, ready to run when the wolves appeared, when suddenly…

A wolf leapt down from the ridge above him, quickly grabbing him in its might jaws. Next to me, Featherpaw leapt from his hiding spot and raced towards them, fur bristling.

I wanted to call out to him, warn him that it was too dangerous, but I couldn't, otherwise it would notice me as well. The other wolves caught up to them, and I looked away as the apprentice's yowls of anger turned to fear, and then to shrieks of pain.

It felt like hours before the sounds finally stopped, and I could hear the wolves heading off in the direction of the camp. I waited a few minutes, before I headed out of the bushes.

What I saw almost made me vomit right then and there. There was blood splattered everywhere, along with the half mauled corpses of my clanmates…

I looked away, not able to bear seeing their dead bodies. I should have tried to help… But I'm terrible at fighting, I wouldn't have been able to help… I'm only good for hunting prey. I sighed, shutting my eyes tightly.

I lifted my head suddenly. The clan! The wolves must have gotten there by now!

I quickly ran in the direction of the camp. There must have been at least twenty more wolves in their packs than we have cats, judging by how many pawsteps I could hear.

I actually did vomit when I got to the camp. There was blood everywhere, the dead corpses of my clanmates were mainly just bones, and the meager prey heap didn't have a single squirrel on it. I wanted to run in and look for survivors, until I noticed the pack of wolves were still walking around, doing what I had planned to do, except they wanted to eat them as well.

With a heavy heart, I ran off, with the dried mud still on my fur, nobody could notice me.

I opened up my eyes. Great, I'm not dead yet? I groaned, hardly being able to stand up thanks to my weak body.

I stumbled forward, and started walking. Might as well see more things before I die, I guess.

There wasn't really anything spectacular to be seen, just trees mainly. Surprisingly, there were no rogues to be found anywhere.

I did stumble upon an small dead squirrel, which was nice. It seemed to have been killed by something other than sickness, due to the massive scratch marks on its sides. Or maybe it died due to infection? I don't know, I'm not a medicine cat… But I could tell that it had been killed quite a long time ago.

Thankful for the free meal, I quickly ate it, trying to ignore the stale taste.

That's the only food I've eaten in a while, and probably going to be my last meal…

Shaking my head, I continued on. I think it's been like two moons since my entire clan got massacred… Wow, that's sort of a long time.

I noticed that night was quickly approaching, and my stomach growled yet again. That squirrel didn't help much, and by now I was even hungrier than I was before I ate the squirrel. I would hunt, there was plenty of prey around here, but I didn't have enough energy to try to hunt anything. I just feel too… weak…

Doing my best to ignore the gnawing pain in my stomach, I arrived at what seemed like a clearing. Peering inside, I probably would have puked if I had any food left in my stomach.

It… It looked similar to my camp, except all the corpses weren't half mauled. They were all just… slaughtered…

Shivering slightly, I glanced around, soon noticing the sounds of someone's pawsteps.

I hid behind a nearby tree, seeing a lone cat looking around, seemingly shocked. Huh, this seems slightly familiar…

My stomach growled, and the cat's head swiveled in my direction. I was getting ready to run, before I realized that I had no reason to.

I sighed, and got out of the bushes, almost tripping. My vision slightly blurred.

"Why… hello… there…" I said, dizzily swaying back and forth, closing my eyes before I fell and hit the ground.


	3. A meeting, a hunt, and a Phoenix

Rainsplash

A lean grey cat had walked up, and I had momentarily unsheathed my claws. He murmured something woozily before collapsing into a heap of fur just outside of the medicine den. Ironic. He was a rogue, probably here to steal what food was rotting in the corner of the camp. Instinctively I shot past him and into the Medicine Den. I pushed the dead medicine cat, crying softly as I looked through his spotless collection of distillations. Herbs ran through my head faster than the giant monsters did on the endless sheet of black glass outside the forest. The old, wise medicine cat, who had shown so much passion insisted on teaching me knowledge about herbs. I cried harder over his death, unable to ignore his dead body. I walked back, touched his nose, and walked out with bundles of herbs hanging out of my mouth. I stole some of the celandine and daisy leaves for myself, still trying to ease the pain in my shoulder. I set a pile of healing herbs aside for him to chew up when he woke up. Jogging towards the river, I picked up several pieces of moss and dipped them into the river. After caring for the rogue, I tested my shoulder by climbing a rather small tree. The daisy leaves had had a better effect than any herb I had taken. I leaped down and left camp, hoping to get back before he woke up again. I breathed in the air, and hackled. _I need to fine mint on my way back_. The smell of blood began to turn into a rotting smell, dulling my sense of smell. Yowling angrily I shook my head furiously, still horrified by seeing so many dead cats. Worried I would mentally collapse, I thought of the rogue instead. there was no way he was in our clan; I would have remembered his dark ears. I wondered if he was a medicine cat. he looked quite thin for a rogue, let alone a warrior cat at all. If he was a kittypet he would have been dead by now. Was he at the last Gathering? I _have_ seen him… He was-

A loud rustling intruded my deep thinking. I jerked my head upright and spun around quickly, looking for the grey cat I had encountered that morning. I didn't _see_ him. I heard it again. I tried sniffing around the ground, instead of the poisoned air. I smelled a faint scent of rabbit floating around the blood and rotting smell of my former clan. Keeping my nose to the ground and my belly low, I crouched around on my toes, quiet as a field mouse. This time, I _saw_ a small rabbit hole peeking out of two oak leaves. The rabbit that abided there looked so pathetic I understood why the wolves didn't kill it. _It's better than nothing, I supose._ We made eye contact, and I shot forward desperately, my hunger beginning to push me forward like a footsoldier hungering for a kill. I had been so busy caring for the cat, I had forgotten to feed myself. The rabbit, thin as it was, was extremely fast. Growling frustratingly, I pushed my feet farther under me, causing my speed to increase. I was merely a fox's length away now. Leaping forward, it bolted away from me. I managed to hook a claw into its hind leg, pulling it back greedily. Impatient to kill it, I dug my teeth into its neck and viciously tore away at it, eating the fresh meat provided. I ate most of its upper torso, saving the larger part for the pathetic cat at camp. I was quite full, either way. Remembering his shape, he looked as if he hadn't eaten in weeks. Moons possibly. _He would be dead, if then, fool._ I scolded myself. Picking the rabbit up by the skull, I carried it back to camp. I almost dropped the rabbit in surprise when I saw bright eyes staring at me. Did he just smile at me? We're surrounded by dead cats, and he smiled at me. I just stared awkwardly.

"This is yours," I meowed solemnly. "I ate what I wanted. You look like you needed the majority; so here." I stepped closer, cautiously. He was a larger cat, and sat down when I stepped forward, a sign of peace. I padded forward casually, and dropped the meat in front of him.

"Thank you," he said quietly. He still sounded very hazy. "You're sure you don't want any more than you took?" he tilted his head a little.

"I'm fine, thank you," I said firmly, scanning him. His eyes still looked droopy, red veins irritating his bright cyan eyes. _Maybe some celandine? Or water?_

"You didn't happen to take the herbs beside you, did you?" I ask worriedly. He wasn't supposed to _eat_ any of them, in truth. I was worried he had.

"I wasn't sure what to do with them. I am no med," he said, looking away. I kept my strong gaze on him, but I couldn't help but feel slightly sympathetic towards him.

"Here," I said, heading towards where he had fallen. I picked up the Cherville roots and set them in front of him. "Helps with sickness,"

"Shouldn't you get some?" he asked, pushing a small portion back. I looked at him confusedly.

"I have had enough. This is for you," I said sternly. I pushed it back and added, "Don't eat it. Chew it up and spit it out. Do the same with these," I instructed, pushing forward more Cherville. I gave him a few Dandelion leaves for shock, Feverfew, and Goldenrod.

"This is quite a lot of herbs," he said worriedly. He bent down, beginning to chew on the Feverfew.

"You can eat that," I said automatically. "If you're that worried, the Dandelion was for shock, the Feverfew's for headaches, and Goldenrod's for sore joints. I doubt any of that will negatively affect you in any way," I said informatively. I cursed at myself mentally for sounding like a member of StarClan. The cat nodded, eating more herbs.

"What's your name, anyways?" I asked nonchalantly. I really _did_ want to know. I watched carefully as he sat up from eating all of the herbs. He curled his tail collectively around himself before speaking.

"My name is Stormscorch. And your name is…?" he meowed, looking at me for response.

"Rainsplash," I said monotonically. "That's no rogue name you have. What clan are you from, and why are you here?"

"I believe I should be asking _you_ that," he said pausing. He looked back up again, more sober. "My clan was slaughtered by wolves. I did nothing but cower behind a bush and watch helplessly. They were all mauled; nothing was left behind," he said, looking at his paws.

"You are sure that they were wolves?" I asked, looking up incredulously. Wolves. Not humans. That meant I could find them, somehow. I could figure out why they're slaughtering clans.

"I was hunting. The cats I were with smelled them as well, I even heard them. They were gone before I got there, but I knew it was wolves. I could hear them howling, their feet stampeding into my camp, I-"

"I know," I said cutting him off. It began giving _me_ images. I imagined Leopardstar getting pulled apart by two wolves, Halftail being eaten, Coalfoot mauled.

"I'm guessing that's what happened here," he said sadly. Stormscorch looked around, then got up and looked back at me.

"We might as well go hunting before dusk," he meowed, sighing. He headed towards the deeper parts of the oak forest. I ate more Daisy leaves for my shoulder and followed suit. He twitched his tail to the left; I nodded as he crept away in that direction. I walked the route I had before. _Plenty more where that hate came from._ I continued onward, finally picking up a scent. I willed myself to follow it, in sheathing my claws. I frowned at what I had found. A field mouse. Half the size of the hate I had caught earlier and gave to Stormscorch. _Be grateful that you have a meal at all._ My conscience scolded. Trotting up to it, it seemed to give in to death, only running a few fox lengths before I managed to kill it. After covering it, I thought I heard Stormscorch behind me.

"I really hope you hunt better than me, because I honestly prefer fig-" I turned around as I spoke, and cut myself off. He was nowhere in sight. His dark ears slightly stood out in the woods, but I inferred he was more East than I. I turned in a slow circle, hearing the leaves rustle even louder, taunting me. I growled and dug my claws into the soil underneath me. In the corner of my eye, I saw a light grey cat with a white tipped tail, floating behind it. She was watching me from under a grove of leaves. I kept her in my peripheral vision and acted the part. Sniffing the air, I pretended to follow a false path, slightly to the right of the rogue. It stayed back, frozen in its crouch. I cursed at the realization that she knew I had seen her. _Might as well,_ I thought daringly. Adjusting my shoulder, I growled under my breath, whipping around to run back and attack from behind. As I turned, it was right behind me, and pushed me back onto the ground. Yowling, I clawed blindly at her face, making her retreat slightly.

"In the name of _Starclan_ -" I screamed angrily, getting up. I recognized him to be male as he cut me off abruptly.

"This is my clan, and you are not welcome," he boomed. Readying myself, I paused, looking at him in bewilderment.

" _Your_ clan? What clan? You consider dead, slaughtered cats a clan? I honestly believe I'd remember a cat like you if you were in my clan, you little piece of-" He howled, interrupting me again, which I hated. Growling, I went offensive and dove under him, raking my claws all the way down his lower stomach, barely scratching his privates before he bit down hard on my hindquarter. Hissing, I kicked back, but he held on. He was quite a large cat, bulkier than Stormscorch, but slightly shorter. His weight made it harder to shake him off. Yowling angrily I began to rock back and forth, bucking him off. I pushed my head up into his stomach to knock the wind out of him. He rolled off to the left of me, and I leapt up to attack him again until a darker figure appeared kicking sand into my face. Hissing and spitting, I looked down shaking my head wildly to rid of the sand. I tried unsuccessfully to rub the face from my eyes, waiting for an attack. To my surprise, I saw Stormscorch staring at me, quite dismayed.

"What do you think you're doing?" he scolded, looking down at me. "You could've gotten yourself killed, fighting like that. Did you even ask him-"

"Who made you in charge?" the cat spat angrily. Now that we weren't trying to kill each other, I could get a better observation of him. He was a light brown cat, with a long, golden stripe that ran down his back. Smaller stripes cascaded down from the spinal one, making his fur look like a golden waterfall. He had dark green eyes that seemed to shoot claws through me, stronger and harder than Stormscorch's soft blue ones. I glared back as Stormscorch struggled to make peace between us. Turning, Stormscorch looked towards the golden tom.

"What's your name?" Stormscorch asked benevolently. The other cat, his hostile look fading, sat down and curled his tail neatly around his paws.

"My name is Phoenixflight," he said, rather awkwardly. Stormscorch smiled and introduced himself and me. I stood up and acknowledged him with a curt nod.

"That's a nice scar you got there," Phoenixflight said, looking down at my shoulder.

"Got it in a fight," I meowed back. I turned to Stormscorch, "I'm going to get my prey," I said tersely, and stalked away. I could hear Stormscorch and phoenixflight continuing to talk quietly, their footsteps growing louder as they approached the camp. I remembered our quarrel from the short battle that occurred earlier and confronted him when they walked into the smelly camp.

"What did you mean by defending _my_ camp, earlier? Certainly you know now this is not your clan camp," I said stiffening my back. He paused momentarily, before beginning.

"I assumed this to be my camp. I was mistaken; I apologize," he said, looking around. "I left my clan. The leader is quite foolish, and I prefered a different-err-opinion. The leader called for a meeting, and threatened to kill me if I did not leave immediately. I have been alone for around a moon now. I came across you burying a mouse, and wondered if you were hostile, or a rogue. From the looks of it…" his voice trailed off. I looked away, standing.

"This used to be my clan," I said, looking around. My chest heaved, memories flooding into my mind. "Stormscorch had the exact same thing happen to him, but no cats were left. He said he _saw_ wolves invade," I lowered my voice, "Nothing but blood," I repeated.

"And, you assume that same pack attacked your wolves?" Phoenixflight stands, a stern look replacing his empathetic one.

"I believe so," I sigh. I look at my paws, hardening my face. "They weren't the most loving cats, my clan. They were family, though. They're lives were _wasted_ ," I growled, spitting at the end.

"Maybe we should go back to Phoenix's camp, and see if the same has happened to them," Stormscorch appeared. "After you're both healed, of course," he added quickly. I looked at Phoenixflight, who just nodded. I nodded to Stormscorch, and quickly limped into the medicine den to fetch herbs for Phoenixflight, Stormscorch, and I. We agreed to begin at dawn, tomorrow.

 _I groaned, yowling and squalling. If kitting was this painful, I wondered how a queen was able to do it so many times... all her life..._

 _A small cream cat was lying beside me soon afterwards. The only physical appearance he had from me were his small, white ears._ He could even have my eyes...! _I watched in awe as he crawled around blindly. It grew dark, instantly after. The other queens and the medicine cat helping me had wandered off. The forest was colder. It looked almost exactly like the Dark Forest, but with a small opening in front of me, leading out to nothingness. I stood up cautiously, tending my hinds for a run. Walking slowly, I hadn't walked a rabbit's tail before feeling something hard, flat, and cold ram into my shoulder. Yelping, I stumbled off my feet as I continued to slide forward at an alarming pace. I looked around, horrified to see nothing visible pushing me forward. Nothing but the opening in front of me, dragging me forward with some force._

 _By the time I had grown weak and tired from pushing against... whatever strength was pushing_ me, _the fear for my life grew worse as an edge began to form. A rocky, jagged edge._

 _The edge of a cliff._

 _Alarmingly, I began to scratch and wriggle wildly, still unable to get to my paws. The abyss below was dark, and cold. Much like my surroundings, but with an impeccable, sinister darkness. A familiar voice echoes through my head as I neared the cliff, followed by other voices._

 _"Bring him out, please,"._

 _"How dare you speak to your leader so!"_

 _"There's no way she's alive by now..."_

 _"_ MOTHER!"

I yowled angrily for Stonekit, spinning uncontrollably as I fell into the abyss. I felt something hard meet with my side. Silence.

Alarmed, I shot up, leaping into the air like a jackrabbit. Stormscorch was watching me, his eyes formed into an empathetic look as my breathing became ragged, and uneven.

"I heard you murmur a kit's name in your sleep," he said slowly, disarmingly.

"Mm, just a bad dream." I confirmed, holding my breath to hide my terror. "Sorry. Goodnight." I turned away, walking a distance from the two boys before collapsing under a tree, exhausted.


End file.
